From Nanny to Mother?
by RevSue
Summary: Phoebe Figallily is the best nanny the Everett's have ever had. But becoming their mother?


_Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, and I make no money from this work of fiction!_

From Nanny to Mother?

"Good morning, Professor!" Nanny carolled as the Professor entered the kitchen.

"Is it?" he yawned.

"Oh yes! The sun is shining, the blossoms are fair bursting on the trees ..."

The Professor peered out the window at the early May sunshine. "All right. Good morning, Nanny." he conceded.

"Your egg is just about ready," Nanny said, pouring him a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Knowing he had asked for oatmeal last night as this morning's breakfast, then had changed his mind on the way downstairs to an egg, he almost asked her how she knew. But what was the use? She wouldn't give him a straight answer, anyway! Still ... "I ordered oatmeal, Nanny," he said, mildly.

Flashing him a brilliant smile, Nanny nodded. "I know, and last night it seemed like today would be an oatmeal sort of day. However, as soon as I got up, I knew you would change your mind, so here it is!" and she slid a perfectly fried egg onto his plate. "Some day, Nanny, I'll catch you up and you won't be able to squirm out of it."

"Catch me up?" she inquired artlessly, passing the toast to him then pouring his coffee.

"Coincidence only goes so far." he muttered, and took a bite of his egg.

"My Great-aunt Phoebe always used to say that coincidence is God's way of performing a miracle anonymously." Nanny said.

"Your Great-aunt Phoebe who you resembled more than your own mother?"

"That's right, Professor!" she seemed pleased that he remembered. "She was born in China, right?"

"Very good, Professor! I must say, you seem to be on a roll this morning!"

"Oh, I am!" he grinned. "The day is getting better and better!"

"Too bad your mood will be spoiled. But it can't be helped, really. It's just one of those things." Nanny sighed.

The Professor laughed. "Bite your tongue, Miss Figalilly, and eat your heart out! Nothing can spoil my mood now!"

"Rather mixed metaphors, Professor Everett, but I do believe I understand you anyway!" "I'm certainly glad to hear it!"

At that moment, Butch and Hal burst into the kitchen. "My bus is early!" gasped Hal. "I don't have time for breakfast!"

"No need for such a rush, it will take the driver a few minutes to fix his flat." Nanny pushed him into his chair gently, and handed both boys some toast. "Your lunch is all ready."

"His flat?" the Professor asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Not his fault, really. It was a slow leak that got away from him." Nanny confided.

"Where?" Butch asked.

"Just outside Francine's house." Nanny answered. "Or did you mean which tire? I believe it is the left front one."

The Professor stared at her. "You've been in here with me, and there have been no phone calls, Nanny! How on earth ...? Never mind."

The boys ate quickly, then Hal departed for school and Butch ran out to feed the animals before he and Prudence had to leave. Nanny poured the Professor another cup of coffee, and he toasted her with it, his eyes gleaming as he looked at her. "Still in a good mood, Nanny! That slow leak wasn't in MY tire!"

She smiled, but before she could say a word, Prudence dragged into the kitchen, her little face gloomy and despairing. "Prudence? What is it?" the Professor asked, concerned.

"I don't want to go to school, Daddy," she said.

"But you love school!" he protested. "Please don't make me go back this week? PLEASE, Daddy? I want to stay home!" she burst into tears.

"Prudence, darling!" Nanny dropped to her knees and cuddled the little girl close. "It's really not that bad! We can come with a solution ..."

"A solution?" the Professor stared at her.

Prudence sniffed, then said, "Daddy? Don't you just love Nanny?"

Nanny sat back, startled, and the Professor almost laughed at the expression on her face. But the tears on Prudence's woebegone face stopped him. "Prudence, why are you crying?"

"Why didn't you answer my question?" Prudence's eyes were tear-filled. "DON'T you love Nanny? Hal, Butch and I do!"

"Prudence ..." Nanny began, but the Professor interrupted her.

"Of course I love her, just as you three do." he assured his daughter.

"Then ... then why won't you marry her so she can be our mother?" Prudence asked. At this question, Nanny sat on the floor with a bump. She looked helplessly at the Professor, who, despite his anxiety for his daughter, was still rather tickled to see Nanny caught off guard. "Daddy!" Prudence wailed suddenly, and he guiltily looked down at her, aware that he had indeed not answered her question.

"Darling, it's not that simple..." he tried to explain.

"But I need a mother!" sobbed the little girl. "I NEED one! For Friday! They're having a Mother's Day tea and all the mothers have to come, and I need a mother! And it's MOTHER'S Day on Sunday, and Butch and Hal and I have to make breakfast in bed for a mother! Please, please, please, Daddy, PLEASE will you marry Nanny so we have a mother this year?"

"Oh, Prudence, darling," Nanny's arms went around the child tenderly, "I'd be honoured to come to your Mother's Day tea on Friday at school. I love you like a mother, and that's all that matters, isn't it?"

"Prudence," the Professor added, "Even if Nanny and I decided to get married, it wouldn't happen by Friday, you know. That's only three days away!"

"I didn't want to say anything before, cause I kept hoping maybe the teacher would change her mind, but yesterday she said she wouldn't, and all the mothers have to come ... and ... and ... oh, Daddy, you already said you love her! You HAVE to marry Nanny before Friday! Please?"

"Prudence, let's think this through ..." he murmured, but a fresh flood of tears stopped him. "Listen, I'll tell you what. I'll consider your request if you'll stop crying, eat your breakfast, and go to school. You have only three minutes left." He helped Prudence off the floor, and sat her down, then turned to Nanny and held out his hand to help her up, too. The curiously shuttered look on her face didn't go undetected, but he couldn't help that. Before this day was a total disaster almost before it started, he had HAD to do something!

Between sniffles, Prudence managed to eat her toast and drink her juice, then she wiped her face free of tears and ran back to Nanny, giving her a fierce hug. "I LOVE you, just as much as Daddy does. And I want you to be my mother. Not just for Friday and Sunday, but for EVERY day from now on!"

"I love you, too, darling," Nanny murmured, sounding very subdued.

Then Prudence hugged the Professor. "And Daddy, think very, very hard, please, and decide to marry Nanny so I have a mother for Friday. Then we'll be a REAL family again. I don't remember my real mother, you know, but Nanny said once that she was a wonderful person ... and since Nanny is wonderful too and you already love her and so do us kids, I think my real mother would be happy to see Nanny be our mother instead of our Nanny."

The Professor couldn't say a word. Somehow it struck him as unusual that Nanny would have commented on his late wife to the children, saying that she was wonderful ... but he remembered that Nanny had said something similar to him the very first day they had met! But how was he to even THINK about marriage? And so suddenly!

Butch burst in the door again, and at Nanny's direction washed his hands, then he and Prudence grabbed their lunches and were gone. The Professor sat down at the table again, and Nanny collapsed into her chair as well. For a moment, neither said a word. Somehow, his good mood had evaporated, just as Nanny had predicted. He looked at her rather glumly and said quietly, "Don't even CONSIDER saying it, Nanny."

"I won't, Professor," she whispered, fighting to keep the smile off her face. "You knew it would happen all along, didn't you?" he asked after a moment's silence.

"How could I, Professor?" she protested, but the faint guilty look on her face condemned her.

"I don't like being laughed at, Nanny."

"No one does, Professor. Nor does one enjoy having control of their lives taken out of their hands, particularly by a child!" He peered at her suspiciously, and his gut feelings were confirmed when he saw the dancing merriment in her blue eyes. Then his low chuckle overcame her restraint, and the laughter bubbled out of her. He hadn't heard her laugh like that since Hal's experiment with the "labour-saving" device had run amok in the kitchen. Then, as now, her amusement was heavily laden with love. Dared he hope for any of that love to be his and his alone? Even as that startling thought formulated in his mind, she sobered and whisked out of the kitchen without another word.

That morning, the Professor's classes kept him too busy to think about the morning's startling revelations. Briefly over lunch he pondered his dilemma, but when some of the other professors joined him, he managed to push the problem to the back of his mind. However, when he got back to his office, it was just in time to receive a phone call from Prudence's teacher. "I'm so pleased to hear your news, Professor Everett!"

"My news?"

"Yes. Of your marriage this week to Nanny. Prudence told us this morning. It's so sweet of the two of you to do that for your daughter. It will mean so much to her. I know how she has been feeling about this mother/daughter tea we're having on Friday, so to have a mother of her own has made her ecstatic. Oh, and Professor, I was wondering ... Prudence was telling us all today that one of the things she especially loves about Nanny is that she smells purple."

"Purple?" the Professor parroted, still too stunned that Prudence had told her class that he and Nanny were getting married. "Nanny smells PURPLE?"

"So you don't know what she meant by that?" the teacher sounded disappointed. "Prudence couldn't explain, except to say that Nanny's favourite colour is purple and she even smells like it most of the time. Well, I won't keep you, Professor Everett. Once again, I'm delighted to hear your news and I do hope both you and Nanny will be very, very happy! Please convey my best wishes to her in person, will you?"

"I'll be sure to do that," he said weakly, and hung up. Now what? He had merely said he would THINK about marriage, but ... but it was a preposterous idea! Nanny didn't love him any more than he loved her ... did she? Did HE?

They were certainly very comfortable with one another, and she anticipated all his needs almost before he perceived them. She also felt no compunction in pushing him the direction she felt he should go. He remembered the times over the last two years that their eyes had met, and he had felt a small burst of happiness inside ... a well of joy he had thought dried up after his wife's death. He pondered again his confused, irrationally jealous feelings when a visiting professor had expressed a romantic interest in Nanny, and also when Nanny's long-time fiance had appeared on the scene and he had faced losing her.

He thought again about the teacher's question, and Prudence's statement that Nanny smelled purple. His face relaxed into a smile as he recalled the times he had stood close to Nanny and inhaled the delicious lavender fragrance that seemed so much a part of her. Yes, now that he thought of it, Nanny DID smell purple! Lavender ... that was a fragrance very popular in the Victorian era, was it not? He vaguely remembered his grandmother talking about lavender water and using it to rinse all her sheets. She also had lavender sachets all over the place. Funny, he hadn't remember that until this moment. So Nanny was like his grandmother in her preference for lavender, but he CERTAINLY did not consider Nanny to have anything else in common with his crotchety old grandmother! Could he actually be seriously thinking about acceding to Prudence's request, and asking Nanny to marry him? What would he do if she said yes? His pulse seemed to race a little with excitement, then he shook his head to clear it. What would he do if she said no?

"Professor Everett?" a student poked his head in the door, and thankfully the Professor again deferred his thinking about Prudence, Nanny and marriage until later.

Nanny, meanwhile, had spent her day locked in her room, going over all her possessions in the trunk at the foot of her bed, trying to sort out her emotions as easily as she sorted out her treasures. She smoothed her hand over her great-great-grandmother's wedding dress neatly folded in its box, then re-read the letter that her mother had sent with it. She alone knew what was in her heart? Nanny's lips twisted into a wry smile. If only she DID know what was in her heart! What would she say when the Professor asked her to marry him?

"Dad! Dad!" Butch came flying out to meet the car, Hal close on his heels. "Dad! Prudence says you're going to marry Nanny! Is that true? Cool!"

"You wouldn't mind?" the Professor asked, rather surprised.

"No. She lives here anyway, and we really like her." Butch said. "And Prudence needs a Mom."

"I guess we all do," said Hal, "and we know you need someone, Dad."

"DAD needs a Mom?" Butch turned to Hal, who rolled his eyes.

"NO, Dad needs a WIFE."

"Doesn't Nanny act like his wife already? She makes his meals and washes his clothes and cleans his house and looks after us ..." Butch sounded puzzled.

"You are so childish!" Hal was disgusted.

The Professor was still bemused, and listened quietly as Hal continued, "Wives do more than THAT, and they get paid by kisses and hugs instead of money."

Butch made a face. "Then why would Nanny want that?"

Hal ignored him. "Dad, when did you decide to ask her?"

"To be honest, Hal," The Professor got out of the car and slammed the door. "I haven't decided yet."

"But Prudence said ..." Butch began.

"I know what Prudence said, but it's wishful thinking. I said I would think about it."

"Why would you say you'd think about it if you didn't want to marry her?" Butch screwed up his face, trying to decipher a grown-up's logic.

"I didn't say I didn't want to marry her!" the Professor exclaimed.

"But did you say you DID?" asked Hal.

The Professor took a deep breath. He was not going to accomplish a thing talking with the boys. "Where IS Nanny?"

"She's looking at her wedding dress and crying a bit," Butch offered.

"CRYING? Nanny?"

"Prob'ly cause you haven't asked her to marry you yet." sighed Butch.

The Professor threw up his hands, reached back into the car for his briefcase, and stalked into the house, followed by the two boys. There he was met by a very disapproving Prudence who said, "Why are you making Nanny cry, Daddy?"

Before he could answer, Nanny's soft voice reached his ears. "He isn't making me cry, Prudence."

They all looked up to see Nanny making her way downstairs, smiling softly despite slightly reddened eyes. "I thought it was because he won't marry you," explained Prudence, hugging Nanny tightly. Nanny lifted her eyes to the Professor's, then she glanced away again. "I have supper in the oven. Shall we eat before it's completely dried out?"

"Let's. Then we can have a family discussion," the Professor said, somewhat grimly.

"Can't we eat and talk?" Hal asked as they trailed Nanny into the kitchen.

"Not if it's a topic guaranteed to give me indigestion," the Professor was firm.

"Gee, Dad, no wonder Nanny cries ... when you talk like that!" Hal muttered underneath his breath.

"Another one of God's anonymous miracles," the Professor's voice was wry, but he brightened when he caught Nanny's mysterious smile playing over her lips. As soon as the meal was finished and the dishes had been cleared off, the Professor cleared his throat and signalled for Nanny to resume her seat at the table.

"Now then ... as the entire world has learned ..." he began.

Prudence giggled. "Daddy, you're funny."

Leaning towards Nanny, he whispered, "I guess that's a step up from being the bad guy!"

She smiled back at him, and as he settled in his place again, he realized anew that she did indeed smell 'purple'. It was lovely. Almost as lovely as the woman herself. Suddenly he knew what he was going to say to the children.

"I'm sure you all know that it's Mother's Day on Sunday. You also seem to be aware that Prudence asked me this morning to provide her with a mother for the mother/daughter tea at her school on Friday. I'm assuming that her preference for the role has already been made clear to all of you as well."

"You got THAT right, Dad!"

"What you all don't seem to realize is that although it is true that I love Nanny as much as you do, it is not fair to cast her into a role she is not prepared to accept."

"What are you saying, Dad? Are you saying Nanny won't marry you? Are you saying Nanny doesn't WANT to be our mother?" the three children talked at once.

Nanny merely gaped at him.

He grinned, and her mouth snapped shut, a mutinous glint appearing in her eyes. "What I am saying," he easily over-rode the children's words, "is that this is a decision for Nanny and I to make, and no one else. Is that clear? I cannot promise you a mother for Friday, Prudence. Marriage isn't that simple. But I can promise you that we will discuss it. Tonight. Fair enough?"

"Okay, Daddy," Prudence said, somewhat subdued. "So will you know in the morning?"

"I can't even promise that, sweetheart. Such momentous decisions take time. We wouldn't want to rush into something, then find out we'd made a mistake, one way or another, would we? If I'm going to find the right mother for you and the right wife for me, it will take time. Successful marriages can't be rushed."

Nanny murmured, "My great-great-grandmother used to say that although some marriages are made in heaven, they ALL have to be maintained on earth and that a successful marriage isn't FINDING the right person, but rather BEING the right person."

"Well, finding or being, I guess we won't know anything tonight, will we?" Hal said. "Come on, Butch and Prudence. Let's leave Dad and Nanny alone to start their talking."

As soon as they were alone, Nanny jumped up to clear the dishes off the table. She kept up a light chatter as she worked, pouring the Professor another cup of coffee. After washing the dishes and scrubbing the stove and countertops, she came over to wipe the table, still nattering about inconsequential things. The Professor silently put out his hand and latched on to her arm, tugging her towards her chair. She subsided into it, the dishcloth still clutched in her fingers.

"Phoebe," he said, quietly. "I know you will find it hard to believe, but Prudence has the right of it. Although I wasn't really aware of it until she spoke, I AM in love with you."

"Oh, Professor, really, I think ..." "I am." He plucked the dishcloth from her hand, and kissed her fingertips. Nanny swallowed, and allowed her fingers to trace his lips gently.

"I've thought about marrying you all day," he confessed at last. "I'd like to know what you were thinking ... as if that's anything new!" he added with a chuckle.

Nanny withdrew her hand and twisted it with the other in her lap, unable to look him in the eye. "Do you think you could ever come to care for me?" he asked gently. Her head shot up, her eyes wide.

"Oh, Professor, I DO care for you!" she assured him.

"I see. Then," he paused for a moment, "do you think you could ever love me enough to marry me? Knowing what you'd be letting yourself in for, when it comes to the three children, not to mention myself?"

"I ... I think I could," she almost whispered. "But ..."

"No buts. Not tonight. Think about it, and we'll talk more in the morning, after the children have gone off to school. I don't have to be at the college until ten." He stood up and drew her up and into his arms. "Here's something else to think about." Her eyes drifted shut as he slowly he lowered his head to hers. His lips brushed lightly over hers, once, twice, maybe more, with the softest, most gentle kisses Nanny could ever have imagined. Neither counted. Neither breathed. Then he brought his mouth down on hers with such yearning, such passion, that she found herself accepting his kiss and moaning with gratification.

Warm threads of pleasure raced through her and she was faintly shocked by her reaction. Her body seemed to come alive with excitement and anticipation as a desire began stirring up a wildfire everywhere. Suddenly it was as though she were waking up, for the first time in her life! She felt more vital than she could ever remember. She had waited so long to feel like this. It truly was as if she were awakening to a long-remembered passion yet one which she knew she had never experienced in her lifetime. He was taking her to an uncharted place in her heart, to places she had only imagined, and she had no direction, only instinct. She could only cling to him, absorbing the sensations that exploded within her. She had been kissed before, of course, yet now she realized she had reacted to those kisses with a lack of genuine response. It was with great effort that she gathered her thoughts enough to realize she shouldn't forget who she was ... what she was ... and why she was here. She had not come here to succumb to this man's kisses, however arousing she found them. It had not been her goal to have him fall in love with and marry her! Nor had she ever thought about actually falling in love with HIM!

Suddenly terrified of her feelings for him, she twisted her head to the side and gasped, "Please, Professor Everett!"

"Please what?" He trailed kisses over her cheek to her ear, and the shivers sent rippling across her skin came close to making her forget her resolve as she arched her neck and welcomed his touch. It was a logical question and one Nanny had to force herself to answer.

"You ... we ... must stop this ..."

"I don't want to stop." his arms tightened around her and he pressed his lips against the pulse throbbing at her throat. "You don't either, do you?" Her answer was another low moan. At last, sensing someone at the door and forcing her mind to work, Nanny brought her hands up to push against his chest. "I'll go!"

Groaning with disappointment, he seemed surprised, then as shocked as if she had thrown a bucket of cold water onto him. His body stiffened and his hands released her. He took a deep, steadying breath, then exhaled slowly as Nanny backed away from him. The doorbell rang, and Nanny was gone. He heard her speaking with the paper boy who was apologizing for coming so late, then he heard her light, quick steps going upstairs. Somehow the Professor knew he would not be seeing her again tonight.

Although the children slept soundly that Tuesday night, neither adult got much sleep at all. Nanny had originally thought that, for Prudence's sake, she WOULD marry the Professor. Now she was no longer so certain. After his kisses that had touched her more deeply than she had ever been touched before by another human being, she worried that the physical intimacy would overwhelm her to the point that she would lose sight of who she was and what she was about. Not only that, she didn't think she could hide her burgeoning deep feelings from him. What if he WAS simply marrying her to provide the children with a mother? Could she bear to continue living with him, loving him, without having her love returned in kind? Wrapped in her mother's afghan, she sat in the rocking chair by the window and rocked, unable to sleep. Had it been about anything other than the Professor's true feelings toward her, and hers for him, it would have been easy to analyse the situation and act accordingly. But now ... For the first time in many, many years, Phoebe longed for her own mother. Pulling the afghan closer about her shoulders, she closed her eyes and whispered, "Oh, Mother, what should I do?"

The Professor tossed and turned in his bed, wondering how he had been so blind for the last two years and not realized how much he had grown to love Phoebe. What would he do if she refused to marry him? He wasn't sure he'd survive another loss that appeared to be looming as large as the loss of his first wife. No longer was this a matter of providing a mother for his daughter's school tea, now he longed to marry Phoebe and set about making her and himself happy for the rest of their lives. He wanted Phoebe to be his wife, he wanted to show her how much he loved her ... he wanted her. Just before dawn, he finally dropped into an uneasy sleep, his thoughts still on how much he loved his children's Nanny.

Phoebe jerked awake from her dozing, and saw the sun beginning to come in the window. She smiled softly. All was well. The Professor loved her as she loved him. They would be married and the fairy ending of "happily ever after" would come true. Prudence would have a mother Friday for her school's mother/daughter tea, and the boys would accept her and continue loving her as they did already.


End file.
